Winemakers' Wrath Spills Onto Charities

Vintners Angry Over A State Law Limiting Sales Are Boycotting Events.

September 21, 1997|By John Kennedy of The Sentinel Staff

TALLAHASSEE — Florida's crackdown on out-of-state wineries has uncorked a bitter brawl in Congress and cyberspace and at upscale charity events.

A controversial new law, pushed through the Legislature last spring by beverage distributors, would impose felony charges on winemakers across the country who market their products directly to customers here through mail orders.

In response, the vintners have gone on the offensive - fighting back with boycotts of several major wine festivals that usually raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Florida charities.

''It's bad that the charities are kind of stuck,'' said Bill McIver, co-owner of Matanzas Creek Winery in Sonoma County, Calif. ''But we've got to get our message out.''

Florida Winefest & Auction, a four-day Sarasota event scheduled for April, already is feeling the effects of the winemakers' wrath.

The festival raised $328,000 last year for Florida charities, making it the third-largest event of its kind in the United States.

But so far, as many as 20 wineries indicate they won't attend next year.

''It's a shame that we have California and Florida - the two largest wine-consuming states in the country - at odds with each other over this law,'' said Dana Westmark, the festival's marketing director.

Spokesmen for charity wine festivals in St. Petersburg and Miami also said they're being hurt by the boycott.

Even a for-profit event, Disney World's Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, which begins next month, has seen a half-dozen smaller wineries refuse to participate.

Still, it's not just wine festivals feeling the wrath of grape-growers.

Wineries have taken to the Internet in protest. Family Winemakers of California, an association of 270 small- and midsized wineries, has blistered Florida on its Web page, warning the law makes ''guns easier to get than Chardonnay.''

Under fire from local vintners, California's congressional delegation has pledged support, with one lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Frank Riggs, a Republican representing wine-rich Napa Valley, working on federal legislation to exempt wineries from state direct-shipping laws.

Just as California lawmakers are looking to protect growers, the new Florida law was crafted to shield this state's powerful alcoholic-beverage industry.

Led by Miami-based Southern Wine & Spirits of America, one of the nation's largest wholesalers, the industry contributed almost $100,000 to Florida legislative candidates and political parties during the last election cycle, according to finance reports reviewed by The Orlando Sentinel.

Beer and wine distributors fear direct shipments to customers will erode their profits, especially with the rise in popularity of Internet sales.

Mail-order sales also challenge the tightly regulated system of alcoholic-beverage distribution established just after Prohibition was repealed.

''The public policy question here is, 'Why would you want to allow direct shipping when it encourages underage drinking and discourages sales tax collection?' '' said David Dickerson, a spokesman for the Wine & Spirits Wholesales of America.

Even before last spring's law, providing direct shipments to customers was a misdemeanor in Florida. But the law was generally ignored by prosecutors.

The new law, however, is a threat to out-of-state wineries and specialty beer producers, who could lose their licenses if convicted of a felony.

Their anxiety isn't eased by Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, who has scoffed at the new law as unenforceable. Even state beverage regulators say privately they doubt it will ever be used.

A state court last month further clouded the issue, declaring that Florida has no authority to collect state taxes from out-of-state wineries. That blunts part of the wholesalers' argument in favor of the felony law, but winemakers still are incensed.

''This is a serious matter,'' said Beau Phillips, Congressman Riggs' chief of staff. ''The law could affect thousands of California jobs . . . and it's a draconian infringement on the rights of others to enjoy wine products.''

U.S. Sen. Connie Mack, a Cape Coral Republican, has contacted members of the California delegation, offering to broker a peace between the warring states, but concedes there may be little he can do.

But state Sen. Katherine Harris, R-Sarasota, whose hometown is host of the embattled Florida Winefest, voted for the law but now is ready to revamp it after getting more than 200 protest letters this summer from wine-thirsty Floridians.

''It was wrong to use a sledge-hammer approach to this problem,'' Harris said.